


Green Means Go

by GalaxyAce



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fake Marriage, Green Cards, Hospitals, M/M, Marriage Fraud, Pathologist!Jooheon, Ships to be Added as Story Progresses, doctor!Minhyuk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2020-07-31 01:36:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20107033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyAce/pseuds/GalaxyAce
Summary: All Jooheon wanted to do was marry this 'Minhyuk' guy off the internet and get him a green card... but when has the universe ever done what he wanted?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> other ships will make an appearance later.

* * *

✧

It sucks, really, being stuck on one side of the world while your dream job is on the other. Every day he walked into the building he loathed to do a job he really didn’t enjoy, Lee Minhyuk was reminded of that fact. Why had he gone to school for so many years and specialised in that damned concentration he loved so much, only to find that there were barely any jobs available? If he had the chance to do it over, he’d take it without hesitation.

South Korea, the plastic surgery and stomach cancer capital of the world, had no use for Minhyuk’s research on a potential cure for retinoblastoma. Instead, Seoul continued to pump out plastic surgeons and pharmaceutical representatives to market their latest and greatest cancer drugs. Minhyuk felt like he was existing for no reason, going through his days at the hospital feeling unneeded and useless because of the research he’d decided to pursue.

Despite having a steady job running the pediatric oncology ward of one of Seoul’s largest hospitals, Minhyuk kept his eyes peeled for other opportunities all over the country. See, having a decent job didn’t mean he particularly liked it, and he’d do anything to get his dream job, travel anywhere just so he could continue his research and feel useful again. 

He frequently spent many hours a night searching up possible jobs online, and unfortunately, the majority of them were based in the States. There was no way he’d be able to apply for any job there; he didn’t even speak English that well.

The United States of America; it really did seem like the land of opportunities-

-and desperate people.

Job searching turned into scrolling through fishy dating sites after a few wrong clicks, and Minhyuk scoffed at the types of people who claimed to be ‘looking for love’. 

After about an hour, he caved and made a few profiles on different sites. 

✧

One. Two. Three. Four. 

Jooheon downed shots of tequila like it was nothing. His reasoning for drinking several shots in such quick succession was that if he couldn’t feel it at first, it didn’t matter. Although, it did come back to bite him in the ass later, usually in the form of passing out on the couch without pants on.

His vision was only a little blurry, and his speech was only a little slurred, but he still felt fine. A little lonely, though. The truth was, he’d never been good with relationships. Hell, he’d barely had any relationships, and at 24, his dating and social lives were pretty pathetic. Sure, he had a couple buddies he’d call up every now and then, but they were just work acquaintances, no one he’d actually _ voluntarily _spend his time with.

His work, unlike other people, fulfilled Jooheon immensely. Ever since he was little he’d dreamt of pursuing a career in healthcare; the branch of pathology just entranced him and continued to captivate him as he flew through tertiary education, determined to get his diploma and pass everything with flying colours.

Sometimes, being accomplished and smart just didn’t cut it for Jooheon. He wanted, no, he _ needed, _something more. The more he denied it, the more he knew it was true.

Alcohol temporarily filled that void, but after a few too many drinks, he found himself uploading his best selfies to some dating website. The only thing he could recall was the word ‘green’ in the URL. He struggled to find a short but concise biography to put about himself, something eye-catching and interesting that would attract people.

**\- My name is Lee Jooheon. I’m 24 years old and I’m a pathologist! I’m Korean-American, and I speak both Korean and English. I like pretty boys and wearing eyeliner. Also, I’m a top. -**

****

He smirked at his brand new profile, blinking quickly to focus on the words he’d typed. Thank God for autocorrect. He decided to keep scrolling through other profiles, briefly scanning the pictures of men, women, young, and old, until he came to a complete stop in front of a single profile. He gaped at the photos and read the short biography in bold font:

**\- My name is Lee Minhyuk. I’m 25, Korean, and I research cancer. I don’t speak English very good now, but I learn. Looking for someone in the United States around Houston, Texas (77030) to marry me so I can get better job and have green card. Don’t bother to message me if you are not serious. -**

Jooheon smiled at the adorably broken English. He scanned the words a few more times before realisation slapped him in the face. He lived in Houston _ and _he was searching for a cure for his loneliness. Maybe a green card marriage would fix that. It might not be real, but it was something, at least.

Plus, he had a soft spot for pretty blonds. 

After a few days of thinking about it, he sent him a message.

_What’s the worst that could happen?_

✧

Minhyuk felt a little down. His profile views were skyrocketing, but his inbox remained empty. However, he still hadn’t given up hope.

It seemed like that was the right mentality to have, because as soon as he thought about it, he heard a soft chime from his computer. Excitedly, he scrambled off his bed to check it. The notification that popped up in the corner of his screen indicated that he had a new message.

_Finally._

✧

**Lee Jooheon: So, you need a green card?**

**Lee Minhyuk: Yes. Are you interested?**

**Lee Jooheon: Fuck it. Why not?**

Jooheon shrugged as he tapped on the keys. Why not? It’s not like people wanted to date him anyways. Might be nice to have someone need him for something, in this case, a green card. Maybe it meant he’d always have someone to hang out with, and maybe if the universe wasn’t so cruel and clichéd, someone to fall in love with.

**Lee Minhyuk: Oh, sure, I’ll fuck (◕‿◕✿)**

**Lee Jooheon: Wait, what?**

**Lee Minhyuk: ‘Fuck’ it means to have sex, yes?**

**Lee Jooheon: I mean, yeah, technically, but I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t want that, just want you to get your job & green card.**

**Lee Minhyuk: Oh, sorry. My English isn’t very good.**

**Lee Jooheon: I speak Korean, too. Would that be easier for you?**

**Lee Minhyuk: I think using English is nice practise for me. I need to learn it to work well in United States.**

**Lee Jooheon: You’re right. So, how will this process work?**

**Lee Minhyuk: I need interview at United States embassy here in Seoul. I get stamp on passport to fly to you, and then we marry. Is that good for you? I need that job in Houston very much.**

**Lee Jooheon: Sounds pretty easy.**

**Lee Minhyuk: We will be check by United States immigration officials after marry to find out if our relationship is real or it was just done for me to get green card.**

**Lee Jooheon: Oh? So we need to pretend to be a couple? That’s doable. Would you have to live with me?**

**Lee Minhyuk: I’m not sure. But, if you let me stay with you, I make sure you enjoy me (◕‿-)**

Suddenly, Jooheon felt really hot. He cleared his throat and cracked his knuckles to type out his next message. Minhyuk seemed really flirty.

**Lee Jooheon: We don’t have to think about that.**

**Lee Minhyuk: Okay! If you change your mind, I will be happy to ★~(◠‿◕✿)**

**Lee Jooheon: Um. So, what do I need to do first to start the process?**

**Lee Minhyuk: I’ll send you huge message with many website links later. I want to know more of you. Tell me.**

**Lee Jooheon: What do you want to know?**

**Lee Minhyuk: Tell me how you like your life in USA. We are both in medicine field. Means we will have interesting things to talk about.**

**Lee Jooheon: Well, I was born here. Lived here all my life. I was raised bilingual since both of my parents are from Korea, but they disowned me and moved back to Korea after I graduated from medical school. They found out I liked men around that time, but I don’t care. Now I make more money than both of them, and I never really wanted kids anyway.**

**Lee Minhyuk: I am sorry, Jooheon. But it sounds like now you win. You have money and probably a lot of men who like you since you are very good looking~**

**Lee Jooheon: Thank you. I hope I do. Do you want to tell me about yourself tomorrow? I should go to sleep now. I look forward to your messages and links to start the process. Nice to meet you, Minhyuk.**

**Lee Minhyuk: Sure! Good night! Nice to meeting you too, Jooheon (◠‿◠✿)**

✧

Alcohol coursed through his body, and it took a long time for Jooheon to fall asleep.

This was going to be weird as fuck.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

✧

While killing time at his desk, Jooheon’s phone lit up. 

It was Minhyuk.

✧

**Lee Minhyuk: Went to bleach my hair ^^**

**Lee Minhyuk: But I have good news! I come back from embassy and find out I can fly to you in two days! Is that okay? Can you come to the airport to get me?**

**Lee Jooheon: That’s great! I’m glad it worked out. I can definitely go to the airport and pick you up.**

**Lee Minhyuk: Should I bring a lot of stuff? I did a video interview with the hospital I want to work at and they said they want to hire me after everything works out with us!**

**Lee Jooheon: Holy shit, nice! Seems like everything is working out well so far. Try not to bring too much stuff. Whatever you need, I’ll buy it for you. You can pay me back after you get that job.**

**Lee Minhyuk: Thank you very much. You are very kind to me. I appreciate. ◕3◕**

**Lee Jooheon: No problem. See you in two days! Make sure to tell me when your flight is coming in!**

**Lee Minhyuk: I’ll send you an e-mail! See you soon, husband (｡♥‿♥｡)**

✧

Minhyuk wouldn’t call himself a nervous flier, but facing a fifteen-hour flight alone into a foreign country was daunting. He spent the first half of his flight doodling in his notebook and studying a book on English grammar, while the latter half was spent tossing and turning in an attempt to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

✧

Jooheon showed up to the airport in a pair of blue jeans and a plain, black t-shirt. He shifted on his feet anxiously and triple-checked the email Minhyuk had sent him to ensure he was there at the right time. When a swarm of people flooded through two pairs of large, automatic sliding doors, he immediately began scanning the crowd for Minhyuk until his eyes fixed themselves on the single head of blond hair that stood out against the rest.

_ Damn. Minhyuk looked even better in real life. _

“Jooheon!” Minhyuk called, waving his arm and walking just a little bit faster.

Jooheon smiled brightly, showing off the two deep dimples on either side of his face. He was now face-to-face with Minhyuk and he felt a lot more nervous than he should. “Hey, Minhyuk.” Jooheon waved awkwardly and gave the blond another smile. “Let’s go?” he asked, pointing to the glass doors at the entrance of the airport.

Minhyuk nodded and grabbed Jooheon’s arm gently, trailing behind him as he was manoeuvred out of the airport.

✧

American air smelled different than Korean air. The skies were brighter. People were taller. Things were bigger. Minhyuk couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he looked around excitedly. They were only walking through a parking lot, but the expression on Minhyuk’s face made it seem like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. They came to a stop in front of Jooheon’s vehicle, a strange, boxy-looking car, as Minhyuk would describe it. Jooheon called it a ‘Chrysler 300’. 

As Jooheon drove him home, Minhyuk couldn’t help but let a tear roll down his cheek as he clutched his bag to his chest and stared out the window. 

He made it.

✧

“Here’s me,” Jooheon said, turning the key to his apartment and swinging the door open, “it’s not much yet, but there’s a spare bedroom for you,” he shrugged and closed the door behind them, allowing Minhyuk to step forward and look around.

“You talk too fast in English,” Minhyuk laughed, “I can’t keep up. Is it okay if I talk in Korean?” he asked, looking at Jooheon and brushing some blond hair out of his eyes.

Jooheon nodded, “Sure. Make yourself at home,” he offered, “your room is down this way,”

“Ah,” Minhyuk followed obediently and poked his head inside the door to look around. A queen-sized bed sat in the middle of the room, covered with red sheets, “Red is my favourite!” he said in English, looking back at Jooheon excitedly.

Smiling, Jooheon continued the tour of his place, showing Minhyuk the kitchen, the bathroom, and how to operate the shower.

To say that Minhyuk was grateful was a gross understatement.

✧

“Dinner? I usually order in some pizza,” Jooheon knocked gently on Minhyuk’s door, “plus, we should talk about, um, _ this_.”

“Be right there!” Minhyuk called out from behind the closed door. He was in the middle of folding his clothes since they'd been squished together for over ten hours. They were bound to have wrinkles, and Minhyuk really hated wearing wrinkled clothes. Before he could get too engrossed in unpacking, he decided to change into something more comfortable so he could join Jooheon for dinner.

Jooheon left and strolled into the kitchen, fishing his phone out of his pocket to call the pizza place. “-yeah, two large pepperoni pizzas,” he nodded, and after a few moments, he hung up. 

Minhyuk smiled and looked around the kitchen as Jooheon shoved his phone back in his pocket. The refrigerator was huge, and every appliance seemed to be stainless steel. It was really nice, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit envious of Jooheon because of it.

“Want to sit down for now?” Jooheon asked, pointing to the living room couch, "Usually takes them a few minutes to get here."

“Sure,” Minhyuk walked over and took a seat, “you said before we should talk about this. What exactly do you want to talk about?”

“Our, um, situation. How will it work?” Jooheon repeated, he didn’t really have a good idea of what he was getting into, if he was completely honest. It seemed like a win-win situation, though. Minhyuk needed something he had, and he needed something Minhyuk could offer. Plus, it wasn’t like he was planning on getting married soon anyways, if at all.

There was a knock at the door and Jooheon scrambled off the couch to collect the pizzas.

Minhyuk nibbled on his pizza and began to explain, in Korean, the lengthy process of marriage for a green card. Jooheon made sure to pay extremely close attention; neither of them could afford slip up. Apparently, if they weren’t convincing enough during their interview with the U.S Immigration Officer, Minhyuk would be deported and unable to apply for another green card for several years, and Jooheon would be sent to jail. Jooheon gulped audibly upon hearing that.

“H-how do we convince them that we’re real?” Jooheon asked shakily. He wasn’t so sure this was a good idea anymore. It seemed like a huge risk to take.

“We just need to learn about each other, really. They will ask us questions like how we met, who came to our wedding, what medications each of us take, our birthdays, and some personal stuff, too,” Minhyuk explained, “but we can talk more about that later.”

Jooheon stayed quiet for several minutes, chewing away at his pizza and trying to absorb the information Minhyuk was giving him. There really were serious consequences for both of them if the facade went south. “What kind of, um, personal stuff?” he finally broke the silence.

“Sleeping habits, what we wear to bed, and from what I’ve heard, there’s a possibility of being asked about our intimacy,” Minhyuk replied calmly, refusing to show discomfort at the sensitive subject. He couldn’t afford to be embarrassed when the immigration officer showed up at their house to ask about their sex life. That'd surely raise suspicions.

Whether or not Jooheon wanted to admit it, it did make sense. People got married for a reason, the reason being love, usually, and people in love often wanted to be intimate with each other. “That’s reasonable, I guess,” he shrugged and bit at the crust of his pizza slice.

Minhyuk would be lying if he said he didn’t sense Jooheon’s uneasiness. Jooheon was stiff, tense, and acted like he wasn’t comfortable with either Minhyuk or the situation, which was understandable. It was definitely a strange circumstance, one that Jooheon, and likely the majority of the world’s population, wasn’t familiar with.

“Do you want to know things about me?” Minhyuk asked softly, trying to break the awkward tension, “I’m not very interesting, I think, but I’m sure we can find something to talk about. I know this is weird, but maybe we could at least try to be friends.”

“That sounds nice. I don’t have many friends since I spend most of my time here alone or in the lab at work,” Jooheon ran his fingers through his hair, tugging gently at a fistful of black strands and sighing quietly as he looked at Minhyuk’s seated form. Minhyuk was tall, a bit taller than himself, and very lean. He imagined the blond would look good in so many different types of clothes because of his svelte physique, but he tried not to stare for too long, “do you like to go out or do you prefer staying in?”

Minhyuk hummed, “Depends who I’m with, really. In Seoul, I stayed in a lot to do my research and put my papers in order, but here, I feel like it would be a lot more fun to go out,” he smiled and crossed his legs, “I’m guessing you like to stay in?”

Nodding, Jooheon affirmed Minhyuk’s statement.

“Ah, that’s cool, too! I guess you wouldn’t know the best place to go and meet new people then, huh?” Minhyuk asked sheepishly.

Jooheon frowned, “I’m afraid not,” he offered pathetically.

“That’s okay. What do y-”

“When do we have to get married?” Jooheon blurted out.

Minhyuk blushed at the sudden outburst and widened his eyes at the other man. “I think it needs to be done within 3 to 10 weeks of my arrival to the United States, so it really depends on how early you want to get it knocked out. It is only the first day, after all. Plus wedding planning takes a long time." Minhyuk wiggled his eyebrows at Jooheon and winked playfully.

“Well, um, we can think about that later, I guess. Would be nice to get it knocked out early so you can start working and have a real life, go out and meet friends and all,” Jooheon said, “I would let you use my car, but I’m afraid you’ve not got an American driving licence, huh?” he chuckled.

Minhyuk smiled. It was funny, hearing Jooheon speak in English and then responding back in Korean himself. It sounded nice. “I should probably get all that official stuff taken care of, hm?”

“Probably,” Jooheon smiled back, “we should also probably clean up and get ready for tomorrow. I can take you downtown to get you the papers to apply for an American licence and passport, maybe get started on some of the other documents we need.”

“Definitely.” Minhyuk got up and grabbed Jooheon’s empty paper plate, placing it on his own before dropping both of them into the trash. Jooheon followed and discarded the empty pizza boxes after him.

Jooheon felt so _ awkward. _He had no idea how to act around Minhyuk, and if he was being completely honest, Minhyuk intimidated him. Why? He wasn’t able to put a finger on it just yet.

“See you tomorrow,” Jooheon waved at Minhyuk and disappeared into his room for the night. He lay in his bed fidgeting with his phone, refreshing his social medias and zooming in on funny pictures until he was sufficiently bored. Defeated, he placed his phone on his nightstand table and got up to get a glass of water. He tip-toed through the long hallway and noticed the light in Minhyuk’s room was on. Shrugging, he continued past it until he heard some commotion through the door. God, he really hoped Minhyuk wasn’t breaking his stuff. That possibility, as quickly as it was introduced, was taken off the table as a symphony of relatively loud and breathy moans were heard through the door. Jooheon clamped a hand over his mouth and desperately hoped the floor wouldn’t creak underneath his feet as he moved forward. 

_ Was this guy seriously masturbating in his house? _

A refreshing glass of water helped Jooheon to calm down, and he made it back to his room quickly, sprinting through the hallway in record time so that he wouldn’t have to hear Minhyuk again. “Jesus Christ,” he mumbled, leaping into bed and pulling the covers up to his ears.

✧

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

✧

“I brought everything on the list,” Jooheon shoved a pile of papers across the desk, looking nervously at the thick-lipped man in front of him, “sir.” he added, just for good measure. He couldn’t afford to screw anything up, and he definitely couldn’t afford to arouse any suspicions _ especially _ with Minhyuk sitting next to him.

“Please,” the man smiled graciously and accepted the papers, “just call me Hyungwon.”

_ Hyungwon_. He looked so elegant with his tall, thin frame and fitted suit, not to mention those model-esque features; those model-esque features that seemed to stare back at Jooheon blankly, silently mocking him and reminding him that he was nowhere near as pretty as anyone in the room.

Why Hyungwon opted for a nine-to-five at a boring-ass office when he could have easily been an actor or model was beyond Jooheon. The list of things he’d do to have those perfect facial features and that stature was way too long.

“Hyungwon,” Jooheon repeated, looking at Minhyuk for a quick second as if to make sure he got the man’s name as well.

He was Korean, too. Small world.

“Usually I have my partner here with me to help speed the process along, but he’s fallen ill with a nasty sinus infection,” Hyungwon explained, flipping through the stack of papers, “so I’m afraid our little process here might be just a bit delayed,” he frowned and looked at Minhyuk suspiciously, then shifted his gaze over to a noticeably tense Jooheon. “I’m sensing a little bit of nervousness,” Hyungwon’s stare was piercing, and Jooheon felt a thick drop of sweat glide down the back of his neck.

In English, Minhyuk piped up, “No! We were just… up all night,” he slapped a hand on Jooheon’s thigh and squeezed. His English was heavily accented and it made Jooheon's stomach do flips. It was weirdly endearing.

The positioning of Minhyuk’s hand was skillful, almost practised; not too low on the thigh to be mistaken for a simple, friendly gesture, but not too high to be considered a raunchy grope. It made Jooheon wonder exactly how prepared Minhyuk was for this situation. He was definitely a lot more prepared than he initially thought.

Hyungwon decided to bite, “Ah, doing what?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Minhyuk licked his lips and looked at Jooheon, moving his hand up his thigh about an inch, “You really want to know?” the blond purred, looking at Jooheon seductively and squeezing at his thigh lightly.

Jooheon froze. 

_ Damn. _ Minhyuk was good at this. _ Way _too good.

A quiet groan slipped past Jooheon’s lips and he prayed that he wouldn’t get a fucking boner right there. It’d been far too long, and almost anything set him off at this point. The most embarrassing one to date was a particularly strong breeze blowing past him in a pair of thin joggers after he’d exited a supermarket. Of course, he’d chosen that day to wear boxers so flimsy that it felt like he wasn’t wearing any at all. What’s worse was that he had both hands full with grocery bags, so he couldn’t at least cover his crotch as he walked through the parking lot to get his car. 

Needless to say, he never went back to that supermarket.

Minhyuk seemed to notice Jooheon’s discomfort and moved his hand lower, trying to give him a break since this was a shock, but still managing to rest it on a believably intimate section of his thigh.

“I don’t think I do,” Hyungwon choked out, waving his arms to stop the surely incoming barrage of unnecessary sexual details, “but I do think we’re just about done here. I’ll be sure to get all these papers processed and documented,” he turned his attention to Minhyuk now, “and I’ll put an order through to get you legally allowed to work in the U.S. I understand you’ve already got a job lined up.” Hyungwon said, impressed. It was barely the guy’s first week in the States and everything seemed to be going his way already. It was a tad suspect, but Hyungwon decided it was too early to make any accusations. Minhyuk was very qualified, so it was plausible that he'd have job offers immediately. “So, Jooheon, you know where he’s going to be working?” he looked straight at Jooheon, delighted at the expression on his face; the expression of being caught off-guard.

“Y-yeah, he’s a cancer researcher,” Jooheon nodded and offered Hyungwon a painfully forced smile, “r-retinoblastoma. He’s going to be working at the same hospital as me. A floor below me, actually,” he laughed and pointed downwards.

Satisfied, Hyungwon stood up, prompting the couple to do the same, and extended a hand for them to shake. “Please know that any emails or phone calls you receive from us will likely be urgent and must be answered as soon as possible. If a phone call goes unanswered and unreturned, I’m afraid we’d have to give your meeting or interview slot to another couple, and we can’t know when we’d be able to get you guys back in.” Hyungwon sighed, “Unfortunately, we are very busy here and there’s even a waiting list. That being said, we’ll be in contact soon,” he smiled at the couple and held the door open for them to leave.

✧

The drive home was… awkward, to say the least. Jooheon didn’t dare look at Minhyuk, and the rest of the night was terribly uneventful, save for the soft knock at Jooheon’s door an hour before midnight.

“Jooheon? I need your help,” Minhyuk’s soft voice called from behind the door.

Groaning, Jooheon rolled off his bed to open the door. “What’s wrong?” He looked at Minhyuk’s face for the first time after their meeting with the immigration officer; they hadn’t even looked at each other while they ate. 

“I need to go to, um, Wal-Mart?”

Jooheon laughed. That was unexpected. “Yeah, I’ll take you. What do you need?” he asked, grabbing a jacket off his door hook.

“I broke my hairbrush,” Minhyuk frowned and held up two broken pieces of purple plastic.

✧

“There are half the size in Korea! This place is so big!” Minhyuk looked around in awe, gaping at shelves upon shelves of merchandise. 

Jooheon nodded, “Yeah, it is. You can find the hairbrushes after the makeup aisle,” he pointed at the brightly-coloured aisle containing hair care products and accessories. Minhyuk tugged at Jooheon’s hand and scurried towards his destination excitedly, but Jooheon wriggled his hand loose and decided to follow at his own pace. 

“I like this one,” Minhyuk held up a pink hairbrush and smiled, “will you buy it for me?” he pouted at Jooheon cutely and walked out of the store with a brand-new hairbrush, while Jooheon’s hands were full of grocery bags. 

There was a huge sale on fruits and he just couldn’t resist. 

✧

Minhyuk thanked Jooheon when they got home, and once again, Jooheon refused to look Minhyuk in the eye for longer than was necessary. He offered the blond a wave, a curt smile, then disappeared behind his door for the night.

As Jooheon lay in his bed, he thought about how Minhyuk turned the act of running a mundane errand into the exact opposite. People swarmed to their aisle get a glance of Minhyuk, and it didn’t help that he was drawing even more attention to himself by speaking in Korean. Sure, Minhyuk was pretty and all, but his looks definitely didn’t warrant that level of attention.

Maybe, Jooheon was just jealous.

☼

While Jooheon was at work, Minhyuk spent his days cooped up and alone, and when Jooheon got home, it felt like nothing had changed. Of course, Minhyuk knew that it was silly to assume they’d be more than just mere acquaintances at this point; ever since he’d tried to convey to the immigration officer that they were some degree of intimate, Jooheon had distanced himself even more. Sure, maybe he shouldn’t have done that without asking first, but it was a split-second decision, and he didn’t really have time to think about what else he could have possibly done to get his point across.

He’d been checking his phone meticulously, hoping he’d get that magic phone call soon. It depressed him to be alone all day, and it definitely didn’t help when Jooheon came home, muttered three words, then brushed past him to lock himself in his room.

Minhyuk knew just how to lure Jooheon out. 

One word. 

_ Japchae. _

He scavenged the kitchen for ingredients and got to work.

It wasn’t long until the smell of beef and delicious cooked vegetables filled the air, and Minhyuk filled a bowl to offer to Jooheon. He stood outside the closed door, an obvious sign that the person inside didn’t want to be bothered, hesitant to knock. “J-Jooheon? I made japchae,” he finally said in English, “do you want?”

The door opened and Jooheon appeared with a tired smile on his face. His hair was slightly dishevelled and his shirt was too big around the neck, the collar slipping down to reveal a bit of clavicle. He pulled it up as soon as he noticed Minhyuk’s eyes flicker towards his exposed skin.

Minhyuk smiled and held the bowl up, “Eat with me?” he asked sweetly and still in English.

✧

“This is really good,” Jooheon shoved another chopstick full of noodles inside his mouth, “you cook often?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

Minhyuk felt relieved. Things seemed relatively normal again. Jooheon was looking at him more _ and _starting conversation.

“Not really, but I think I might now. Your kitchen is a lot nicer than the one I had in Seoul,” Minhyuk switched back to Korean; the words flowed off his tongue easier.

Jooheon crossed his legs and scooped a piece of beef into his mouth. It was almost like their first night together, only five times more awkward. 

“Can I ask you something?” Minhyuk asked suddenly, dark eyes staring straight into Jooheon’s.

Nodding, Jooheon gulped down a mushroom. He wasn’t even sure he chewed it properly; the unexpected question filled him with anxiety, and he almost forgot how to breathe. He was surely going to be called out for his weird behaviour.

“Why have you been ignoring me?” Pouting, Minhyuk looked at Jooheon with an expression akin to the one a puppy made after it's been kicked, “I’m sorry for what I did,”

“It’s not that,” Jooheon shook his head and furrowed his brows, “I’ve just been having shitty days at work. It’s been stressful,” he sighed and stuck his chopsticks in the pile of noodles, “and… I’m nervous.”

“I know you are, and I don’t want to assign blame, but I thought that you knew what this process entailed. You knew what kind of website that was, right?” Minhyuk quirked an eyebrow. What if Jooheon didn’t know that website was made specifically for people interested in doing green card fraud marriages?

Jooheon sucked in a deep breath, “I’ll be honest, I was, um, pretty drunk when I-”

Minhyuk tuned out at that point; that was all he needed to hear. This was terrible. Had it all been a mistake? Had he just been intruding in Jooheon’s life? Unwanted?

“-but life should be full of experiences, right? I’ll be damned if I said this wasn’t one.”

☼

“So, how much do we need to know about each other? I think I asked you that before, but I forgot,” Jooheon chuckled sheepishly as he took a seat on the other end of the couch. He was careful not to send the skinny blond flying upwards as he plopped his ass down on the cushions.

“I have a list on my phone, but, full disclosure, we’re going to have to lie about some stuff,” Minhyuk winced and brought his legs up to sit criss-crossed, “we can go through the list, if you want,” he offered, reaching for his phone.

Jooheon nodded.

“This might take a while… how many questions do you want to do?” asked Minhyuk.

“Let’s just go through them until we get tired,”

Smiling, Minhyuk pulled up the questions and read the first one, “Where did we meet?”

“We met online… I don’t think we can lie too well on that one. What if they decide to pull our profile and messaging history. They’ll see that we only talked for like... a week,” Jooheon was out of breath before he finished rambling. This could turn _ very _ bad _ very _quickly, that was extremely evident now.

“You’ve been on holiday in Korea, right? We can say we met there,” Minhyuk offered, “and since I’m from Gwangju, how does meeting at Mudeungsan Park sound?”

Jooheon had always wanted to go to Mudeungsan. “Okay. Next one?”

“Where did we go on our first date?”

“How about… Soswaewon? Seems plausible enough.” Jooheon said. Maybe this lying thing would be easier than he thought.

“You’re a natural,” Minhyuk winked cheekily and read out the next question, “When did you realise you fell in love?”

“Oh,” Jooheon hummed and thought about an answer to the question, but his mind went blank, “can we come back to that one?” It was considerably more difficult to think of an answer to that one.

Minhyuk nodded. “How many people attended our wedding?” he paused and looked confused, “we’ll do that one later since we’re not married yet. However, it should be a small gathering with a few friends, and I want to wear a pretty, lacy white dress,” Minhyuk threw his head back in laughter and Jooheon choked at the mental image. 

Honestly, he wouldn’t look half-bad; Minhyuk definitely had the body for a dress if he _ really _ wanted to.

Jooheon cleared his throat and waited for the next question.

“Which one of us wakes up first?” Minhyuk said, “I think it’d be me. No offence, but you look like you’d be super grumpy if someone woke you up,” he giggled and tried to imagine a grouchy Jooheon being woken up at ass ‘o’ clock in the morning. It was surprisingly easy.

“You’re not wrong,” Jooheon sucked in a breath through his teeth. He really did hate being woken up early. Didn’t everyone? Apparently not Minhyuk. 

“Next one,” announced Minhyuk, scrolling down the list, “who sleeps on which side of the bed?”

“That’s actually a question?” asked Jooheon, “that’s so weird. I wouldn’t think married couples, like, _ assign _sides of the bed to sleep on… but I guess I’ll take the right side,” he shrugged.

“Weird question, I know, but they only get weirder. These are under the ‘personal life’ category,” Minhyuk wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and laughed at the blush that dusted Jooheon’s cheeks. Making people flustered sure was a talent of his. “What size is our bed?”

“Well, you’ve got a queen and I’ve got a king, but I suppose we’d need to make it look like we only sleep in my room when the immigration officers come and check us out… but that’ll be easy; we’ll just have to clean your room up and make it look like we’ve slept the night in my bed,” Jooheon explained nonchalantly. It’s not like Minhyuk would _ actually _ come into his room, so he had nothing to be nervous about. 

Right? 

Nodding, Minhyuk silently agreed with everything Jooheon said. “So, which one of us likes to cook and which one of us likes to clean?”

“Um, well, the reason I always order in is because I despise doing both those things,” Jooheon admitted sheepishly.

“More for me, then,” laughed Minhyuk, “Have we ever met each other’s families?”

Suddenly, Jooheon’s heart hurt. Since he was a grown man, it was silly to say that his family abandoned him, but it didn’t make it any less true. “My family,” he started, “is in Korea, like I told you a while ago,”

“I know, and I’m sorry to bring it up, but they may ask us,” Minhyuk tried to reason, “if it makes you feel any better, my dad found out too,” he paused to think for a moment, “when I graduated high school. I came home all excited only to be met with a huge slap to the face - literally. Man, I never heard the end of it. He sent me to university in Seoul, actually, so I was forced out of my hometown and all that,” he chuckled painfully, “let’s just say our families haven’t met,” he offered, moving on to the next question, “When is your birthday?”

“Sixth of October, 1994. And you?” asked Jooheon.

“Third of November, 1993,” Minhyuk smiled, “what do you wear to bed?”

“Um,” Jooheon gulped, “just an old shirt and boxers if it’s warm, maybe sweatpants in the winter. You?” he asked nervously. This was… strangely intimate. What if Minhyuk liked to sleep naked? He really didn’t need to hear that and have the mental image of that enviable, slim body tangled between silky red sheets burned into his mind.

Oh. Too late.

“Do you want me to lie to you, or do you want the truth?” Minhyuk raised an eyebrow suggestively.

_ Oh God, he sleeps naked. _

Jooheon hesitated, “The-the truth?” He wasn’t sure if he was asking or telling.

“Depends on how I’m feeling,” Minhyuk drawled, tugging at the collar of his shirt to expose a sliver of milky skin; not too much to leave nothing to the imagination, but just enough to leave Jooheon wanting to see more. He giggled as he watched Jooheon’s eyes go comically wide. 

He knew full well of the effect he had on other men. Confidence plus a pretty face, from Minhyuk’s experience, were the two things that could make the straightest man in the world question his sexuality. However, whether they were straight, gay, or anything in between, Minhyuk relished in the reactions he’d get from them when he’d do something seemingly innocent. Of course, there was a multitude of instances, but the ones that held a special place in Minhyuk’s mind were the looks he’d get from men walking arm-in-arm with their girlfriends. Most of them did a double-take as Minhyuk walked past, mouth agape and eyes wide, as they were reluctantly dragged forward by their now-unhappy girlfriend.

Jooheon’s throat felt extremely dry and his gut abnormally warm, “I think, I think we should stop for the night,” he got up off the couch as nonchalantly as he could and smiled at Minhyuk, “past my bedtime, hah,” he laughed stupidly and hurried to his room, slamming the door behind him. 

_ Why was Minhyuk so damn weird? _

He sighed heavily, slightly angrily, and jumped into bed, trying to get the image of Minhyuk’s perfect, smooth collar bones out of his head. He imagined how _ much _ more perfect they’d look littered with red and purple marks… 

Groaning, Jooheon felt hot. Why was this affecting him so much? Why was _ Minhyuk _affecting him so much? He pressed the back of his head further into the pillow and shut his eyes, allowing his mind — and hands — to wander. 

✧

_ Jesus Christ. _ Had he just jerked off to _ Minhyuk _after seeing a peek of his skin? Maybe he was more depraved than he thought. Controlling himself around someone who oozed sexuality was going to be difficult.

If there’s one thing Jooheon knew for sure, it was that he was in a lot of trouble.

✧

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

✧

He couldn’t stand it anymore. If he had to spend another day cooped up in the house, alone, watching shitty American television programmes without Korean subtitles, Minhyuk swore he was going to go insane. 

After enough episodes of a particularly unfunny sitcom, the English language sounded like gibberish to him and he just needed a break. Unluckily for him, his mobile phone, with everything completely in Korean, provided no relief. Minhyuk needed to get outside. Maybe he’d pay Jooheon a visit, and since they were going to be married soon anyway, it didn’t seem like the worst thing. 

Plus, he could check out the hospital at the same time.

✧

Smiling at his reflection in the mirror, Minhyuk brushed his hair and applied a little makeup to his cheeks and nose, highlighting them a bit. He swiped some cherry chapstick over his lips and smacked them together, pleased with how they looked and tasted. Cherry chapstick was his secret weapon since he hated wearing lipstick. Lipstick was just so thick and dry and he couldn’t stand wearing it for more than a few hours, so a little bit of cherry chapstick effectively remedied the situation. It provided him with a nice, natural colour and it moisturised his lips. Needless to say, it was a win-win. 

He slipped into a pair of ripped jeans and pocketed the red tube of lip balm before poking his head through a pale pink shirt and finishing his look with a pair of simple black sneakers. It was casual enough, but still cute. Content, he made his way to the nearest bus stop with a handful of change.

✧

“Dr. Lee?” 

“Y-yeah, come in,” Jooheon turned his attention away from his computer to look at the door opening slowly, “what can I do for you, Dr. Yoo?” Jooheon stifled a laugh. It rhymed.

“Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to get your opinion on these images before an official diagnosis is made,” Dr. Yoo pulled out a folder of zoomed-in microscope images, “and please, just call me Kihyun,” he smiled and set the papers down in front of Jooheon.

“Uh-huh, let me take a look,” Jooheon stared at the images, holding two of the papers side-by-side and concentrating intently at the purple blobs.

“It looks like acute myeloid, but these ones say otherwise,” Kihyun said, pointing at the offending images and rubbing at his temple.

“That’s the thing about this type of leukaemia. Ha-” Jooheon was suddenly interrupted by a series of frantic knocks at his door before it swung open. 

There stood Minhyuk, looking beautiful as usual.

_ Wait, what the hell was Minhyuk doing here? _

“Surprise!” Minhyuk smiled and walked in, eyeing the other man in Jooheon’s office, “Who’s he?” he asked in Korean.

“This is Dr. Y-Yoo, I mean, Kihyun,” stammered Jooheon, putting the images back down on his desk, “he’s the head of the histology department here,”

“Ah, a colleague?” said Minhyuk, amused, “Good, I thought you were cheating on me,” he laughed and looked at Kihyun. Kihyun kind of looked like a… small rodent, and the oversized lab coat he was wearing only made his short stature more obvious.

Kihyun’s eyes widened at that, “Dr. Lee! You never told us you had a boyfriend!” he screeched in Korean.

“You speak Korean, too!” Minhyuk grabbed Kihyun’s hand and shook it excitedly. Kihyun nodded and smiled so widely that his eyes nearly disappeared.

“He’s not my, um,” Jooheon struggled to find the words. How was he going to explain this to his work colleagues? “boyfriend.” The word didn’t roll off his tongue easily, and he imagined how much more difficult it would be to call Minhyuk his _ husband _. Great. Now he was going to be expected to explain the whole situation, and that was definitely at the bottom of the list of things he wanted to do.

“Oh?” Kihyun raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t know you were a friends-with-benefits type of guy, Dr. Lee,” he chuckled sheepishly and gave Minhyuk a once-over, “shame, you guys would look so good together.”

Jooheon blushed. Did they really look good together? “He’s actually my… my _ husband_. Well, husband-to-be.” he clarified, not daring to look Dr. Yoo in the eyes as he spoke.

“Whoa, when did you run off and get engaged?! The department needs to celebrate for you!” Kihyun gaped at the two men in front of him, unable to believe that they were set to be married! It was exciting! Why weren’t they excited? Why did they seem… anything but?

“It’s a long story,” sighed Jooheon, “I’ll explain some other time,” he cleared his throat and placed Kihyun’s papers back in the folder, “but, I trust I’ve done my part here?”

“O-Oh yeah-” Kihyun took his folder back and clutched it against his chest. It was obvious he wasn’t wanted here anymore, but he couldn’t help but continue gawking at the attractive couple. He had no idea Jooheon was into men, but then again, it wasn’t like he was spent much time with him chatting about their sexual preferences. Nonetheless, Kihyun mentally congratulated Jooheon for snagging such a good-looking guy. Seriously, this guy could compete with Cha Eunwoo.

“-guess I’ll see you guys some other time, then!” Kihyun finished with a wave and closed the door behind him.

Sure enough, he went to blab to the rest of the department.

✧

Jooheon was _ really _tense when he got home. He knew that everyone at work would be asking him if they were invited to the wedding or not, but before his mood was able to take a complete nosedive, something that smelled like tteokbokki found its way into his nostrils.

“I cooked again!” Minhyuk exclaimed excitedly, “get in there and change, then we can eat!” he shooed Jooheon away to his room.

Jooheon nodded and stripped out of his work clothes, replacing them with a pair of soft, grey sweatpants and a plain, black shirt. He stepped back into the kitchen and stifled a laugh. An apron was fastened around Minhyuk’s waist and his blond hair was fixed in place with the help of a red headband. If Minhyuk wasn’t so attractive, the sight would have been comical. 

It had Jooheon wondering for a split second if this is what married life was supposed to be like. Like those stupid things from the 50s depicting the ‘nuclear family’; most commonly, a husband coming home after a long day at work to find his wife toiling away in the kitchen while their kids played in the living room with the dog. Their situation just now reminded him of that.

Except, they didn’t have kids.

Or a dog.

And they were both men.

Right.

“Someone looks handsome,” Minhyuk sing-songed, walking over to Jooheon with two plates full of bright orange rice cakes. He held one out.

Jooheon blushed and accepted the plate of food.

“So, I was thinking we might want to try some of the interview questions again,” Minhyuk said with a mouth full of food, “or we could tell each other stupid little trivial things about ourselves in case the immigration officers want to throw us a fast one.”

“I’m down for whichever,” Jooheon shrugged and lodged a piece of food between his chopsticks, bringing it up to his lips.

“Let’s practise after we eat then, hmm?” offered Minhyuk with a smile.

Jooheon nodded and busied himself in the plate of spicy rice cakes, sneaking glances at Minhyuk every now and then. The blond sucked the long strips of food between his lips sensually, eyes half-lidded as he chewed. He licked the orange sauce off the corners of his mouth slowly before repeating the process again. 

Jesus Christ. Why did he have to do that? Was he doing it on purpose? What did Minhyuk gain from being so suggestive all the time? Jooheon tried to ignore Minhyuk as best as he could, but he found his eyes wandering over to the blond on more than one occasion. 

Minhyuk noticed.

White glass plates stained with orange paste sat empty in the metal sink as Minhyuk took a seat on the couch again. “Ready?” he asked Jooheon.

Nodding, Jooheon prepared himself for a night of gruelling preparation questions.

“When is our anniversary?” Minhyuk hummed, “we should make it between our birthdays! So, that’d be the… twentieth?”

“Yeah,” Jooheon agreed.

“Questions are boring,” groaned Minhyuk, “let’s do them another night. Tell me some stuff about you, but, like, stuff I might need to know for a curveball question during the interview,”

“Well, I used to have two cats. I named them Yoshi and Gucci, but they died two years ago,” Jooheon shrugged, “Old age. Nothing I could do about it.”

Minhyuk frowned, “I’m sorry. Do you want more?”

“I don’t really want any pets right now,” Jooheon shook his head, “they cost me a lot of money. Anyways, um,” he thought of something else to say. The fact that he was having so much difficulty finding anything remotely interesting to say about himself really spoke volumes. “Oh! I first drank coffee when I was twenty-one!”

“No! Really? That’s insane! How did you go so long without drinking coffee? Literally _ everyone _needs it!” Minhyuk’s eyes were wide and his voice was shrill. This was crazy.

“I dunno, it looked gross!” Jooheon made a face of disgust, "and smelled gross!"

“Oh my gosh,” sighed Minhyuk, clamping a hand over his mouth, “I can’t believe it.”

Jooheon giggled, “I like watching horror movies, but it’s not fun to watch them alone,” he shrugged, “and people tell me all the time that I look like a dumpling,” he smiled and put his deep dimples on full display.

“A dumpling? That’s so cute!” Minhyuk squealed, “your cheeks definitely look like dumplings!” he reached over the couch to pinch Jooheon’s cheek, just to get his point across.

Jooheon laughed awkwardly, “What about you? Tell me some cool stuff.”

“Um, well, you know that I’m from Gwangju, boring, but people told me that my Jeolla accent was funny. Since I was living in Seoul and all, no one spoke exactly like I did. Took a while to stop speaking like that,” laughed Minhyuk, “I still talk like that in my head, though,”

“My parents are from Daegu, so I picked up a bit of the dialect from them,” Jooheon said, “so I know what you mean.”

Minhyuk smiled, “That’s cute! Daegu’s cute!”

Jooheon shrugged.

“Anyways, I wear glasses, I can’t swim, and I cry easily,” Minhyuk thought about something else mildly interesting to say until it finally came to him. He looked Jooheon dead in the eyes and lowered his voice, “and I _ hate _cucumbers.”

Jooheon gulped. What did cucumbers do to him? “Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard something like that,” laughed Jooheon. He followed the movements of Minhyuk’s mouth as he talked, unable to tear his eyes away from the pair of pretty, red lips. It was hypnotising, almost, and he really hoped Minhyuk hadn’t noticed him staring, but in Jooheon’s defence, he’d brought up something about using chapstick instead of lipstick and all Jooheon wanted to do was validate its authenticity. 

Honestly.

“So, what should we do about the wedding situation? Do you want to just rent some suits and take photos in front of a green screen? We could cheat and use it for the pictures we have to take while on holiday,” Minhyuk raised his eyebrows. It _ was _a good idea. They were going to need proof that they'd gone on trips together.

“That’s actually really smart, but I’m sure that if we had a wedding, we’d be able to get a lot of people to come to it since I’m the hottest commodity at the hospital ever since the news of my _ husband _got spread around,” Jooheon said sheepishly, mentally cursing at Kihyun and his big mouth, “my phone’s been buzzing all night with notifications,” he groaned.

“Check them!” Minhyuk yelled, scrambling off the couch, “Where’s your phone?” he eyed Jooheon and saw the left pocket of his sweatpants lighting up. He lunged forward and tried to shove his hand inside Jooheon’s pocket, but all that resulted was Jooheon scrambling further into the corner of the couch at the sudden movement.

“What the fuck are you-” Jooheon tried to swat Minhyuk’s hand away, but the blond was stronger than he looked. What made it worse was that Minhyuk was giggling during the whole ordeal, and while Jooheon was frozen in fear, Minhyuk decided that tickling him would be the most hilarious thing in the world.

“You’re ticklish!” squealed Minhyuk, lifting Jooheon’s arms above his head and rendering them useless, “That’s adorable!” he gushed, swinging a leg over Jooheon and effectively straddling him.

This was bad.

“Minhy-Minhyuk, please, don’t-” Jooheon breathed the words out painfully. This was probably the worst thing that could have happened. Why the fuck was Minhyuk so touchy? Since he was being tickled, all he could really do was laugh under Minhyuk’s attack, especially since his arms were unusable.

“Jooheon, so cute! Look at your face!” laughed Minhyuk, “All pink!”

“S-stop,” pleaded Jooheon pathetically, in between uncomfortable chuckles, “pl-please,” he begged, trying to clear his mind as Minhyuk’s lithe body rubbed against his sensually. The blond’s hips gyrated against his crotch and the more Minhyuk bounced and laughed, the quicker the situation became more and more dire for Jooheon.

_ Jesus Christ. _

Jooheon held his breath, but no amount of, well, _ anything _would prevent him from getting a boner now. There was a pretty boy bouncing in his lap, right on top of his dick, and he could feel himself getting hard. 

Minhyuk must have felt it because he suddenly stopped tickling Jooheon and trailed his gaze down Jooheon’s stomach, eyes finally settling on the tent in his sweatpants.

“Get off of me!” Jooheon finally yelled, shoving the blond off of him. His face was red and hot and he’d never felt more humiliated in his whole life. He ran to his room with a hand on his crotch and slammed the door shut.

“Huh,” Minhyuk whispered to himself. He decided to follow Jooheon and make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He knocked on Jooheon’s door, “If you let me in, I’ll help you take care of it,” he purred, hoping his sensual tone of voice would entice Jooheon.

“Go away!” Jooheon shouted from behind the door, “Just go away,”

Minhyuk debated whether he should press the issue or not. Since Jooheon had already rejected his offer, he wondered whether he should kick it up a notch. “I know you were staring at my lips,” he said, “were you thinking about how they’d feel around you?”

It’s like Minhyuk was in his head, but in Jooheon’s defence, who _ wouldn’t _be thinking about that? Minhyuk was a tease.

“No!” Jooheon screamed back, “Leave me alone!”

Sighing, Minhyuk thought about giving up, but then he caught a glimpse of the lock on Jooheon’s door.

Ah. Easy. Could be opened within seconds, with nothing but the nail on his thumb. So, Minhyuk slipped his thumbnail inside the lock and did exactly that.

“What the fuck? Get out!” Jooheon spat angrily, obviously displeased that his privacy had been breached.

“I’m sorry,” Minhyuk held his hands up in defence as he slowly walked towards Jooheon, “but at least let me help,” he bit his lip and observed Jooheon sitting in his chair — tense posture, worried facial expression, it wasn’t anything an orgasm couldn’t fix, “I’m really convincing,” Minhyuk drawled, voice dripping with arousal — and his cute Jeolla accent.

“This wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Jooheon whined, bringing his knees up to his chest, “I don’t know how to react,” his voice changed from loud and angry to meagre in less than half a minute.

“Can I decide for you?” Minhyuk teased.

Jooheon shook his head, “I don’t do these things a lot, I don’t-” his voice was small and he just really wanted to be left alone, but at the same time, he didn’t want Minhyuk to leave him. His mind was stumbling through the weirdest game of limbo right now.

“Then change that,” Minhyuk said, like it was the easiest thing in the world, “I know you find me attractive, and I know you want me,”

“Listen,” interrupted Jooheon, “that’s not specific to me, okay? It’s just been a while and that’s the first time anyone’s gotten _ that _close to me and I just, I just panicked.”

“You’re still hard,” Minhyuk said flatly, “and yes, I can see that from here,” he joked.

“Minhyuk, please, don’t,” whined Jooheon.

“Minhyuk, please, yes,” Minhyuk repeated breathily, walking closer to Jooheon until they were only about a foot apart, “Listen, if you can look me in the eye and _ honestly _tell me that you don’t want me to help you come, I’ll turn around and leave and I’ll forget this ever happened,” he challenged, licking his lips seductively as his eyes scanned Jooheon’s body. Jooheon’s thighs were thick, and upon closer inspection, it looked like another part of him was thick too. Minhyuk wanted to sit on both.

“I-” Jooheon had no pathetic excuse to squeak out; he’d been cornered and rendered defenceless and any lie that spilled from his lips would have no degree of believability.

“That’s what I thought,” Minhyuk smirked, taking Jooheon’s hands into his and squeezing them gently. The action prompted Jooheon to drop his feet back onto the floor to steady himself as Minhyuk straddled his lap. 

Jooheon swallowed thickly as the blond made himself comfortable, brushing his lean body against his crotch and nearly touching their chests together in an effort to get as close as possible. Jooheon prayed the chair would remain steady under their combined weight. God, this was such a bad fucking idea… but since when did Jooheon have good ideas, anyway?

“Mmm,” Minhyuk moaned and bit his lip as he felt Jooheon’s clothed erection against his stomach, “you’re big, aren’t you? I can feel the tip right up at my belly button,” he whispered, rolling his hips forward to press the hard length against him.

Jooheon looked up at Minhyuk nervously, “I-I mean, I don’t, I don’t know,” he babbled. The compliment, if he could call it that, was one that would make any man float on cloud nine, but it didn’t seem to have that ego-inflating effect on him. He blushed and lifted his hands up, tapping at Minhyuk’s waist softly, “c-can I?” All of Jooheon’s shame was thrown out the window now; he was too far forward to turn back.

Minhyuk nodded, “I think I’d let you do anything to me right now,” he murmured into Jooheon’s ear as he felt two strong hands grip at either side of his waist, “so long as you say ‘please’, of course,” he cooed, licking at the shell of Jooheon’s ear tantalisingly.

“Oh, my god,” Jooheon let out an embarrassingly loud moan, “do that... do that again,” he begged, “please,”

“You like this?” Minhyuk asked, nibbling gently at Jooheon’s ear and rolling his hips against his cock just for good measure. He licked a stripe up and down Jooheon’s neck, resting his mouth dangerously close to Jooheon’s earlobe before he boldly sucked the flesh between his lips and nipped at it gently. He gauged Jooheon’s reaction before making the decision to spur him on, “I think you like this a little too much,” he mumbled. It was like his sole purpose now was to make Jooheon a moaning, flustered mess — and he was succeeding.

“I like it,” Jooheon affirmed breathily, bucking his hips up slightly, “I like it a lot, Minhyuk,” he mewled, eyes fluttering shut as Minhyuk ground against him; the friction was delicious and suddenly Jooheon was supremely thankful he decided to wear these pants.

“Mmm, I can tell,” Minhyuk quipped, lowering his mouth to suck bruises on Jooheon’s neck. Jooheon groaned and muttered a curse under his breath as Minhyuk paid him no mind and continued his actions, “and I think, I think you’re going to come,”

“Ah,” Jooheon whimpered and bit down on his bottom lip, trying to swallow back the symphony of moans that threatened to spill out. The more Minhyuk teased him, the hotter his body felt, and the way the blond was grinding against him, so sensually, so expertly, it would have made anyone come in their pants, and Jooheon was no exception, “I think I-I think I am,” he gasped out, “keep doing it, please, Min-” 

“Are you going to come in your pants, Jooheon?” provoked Minhyuk, rubbing his crotch against Jooheon faster and a bit more forcefully, “Are you going to make a mess because of me?” he drawled, his words sending vibrations through Jooheon’s entire body, “So dirty,” he hissed, morphing the last syllable into a cheeky giggle, “so dirty, I love it. Now I wanna hear you beg,” ordered Minhyuk. He loved this. He loved being in control. The feeling of bossing someone around and having them at your mercy just _ did _it for him. He was surprised, but quite content, that Jooheon was so responsive.

“God, you’re so sexy, Minhyuk,” Jooheon moaned, squeezing the blond’s waist, “p-please, make me come,” he begged shakily. He was _ so _ close. Minhyuk’s husky voice _ plus _ that damned lilting Jeolla accent made Jooheon so _unbelievably_ fucking hot. “please, please _ let _ me come, I need to,”

This was so juvenile. He felt like a desperate, horny teenager humping his pillow to get off. Except, Minhyuk moved a million times better than a pillow did. God, this was so fucked up.

Minhyuk snickered. He didn’t expect Jooheon to make a 180 this drastic; it was like he was someone else right now. Not that he minded, in fact, he preferred _ this _Jooheon. He whispered a few more absolutely filthy things in Jooheon’s ear, and before he knew it, Jooheon was a groaning, panting mess under him.

Jooheon saw white, “Oh my _ god _,” he breathed, fingertips scrambling for purchase at Minhyuk’s shirt.

“What’d I tell you?” Minhyuk winked and hopped off Jooheon’s lap, leaving him an oversensitive, sticky mess.

✧

Was this all a dream?

✧

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 👀


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

☼

Maybe bringing Minhyuk to work wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. It seemed to benefit both parties, with Minhyuk revelling in the attention he was receiving, and Jooheon enjoying his newfound social status — with Minhyuk, he wasn’t invisible anymore. 

With his fair skin and blond hair, it wasn’t a surprise that Minhyuk turned heads no matter where he went, but funnily enough, he didn’t forget about Jooheon. Whoever Minhyuk introduced himself to, he made sure Jooheon was by his side doing the same. 

Honestly, it made Jooheon feel a little warm inside.

Out in the lobby, Minhyuk was chatting with some of the other doctors, and by cracking a few jokes, had made them his friends — and by association, they were Jooheon's, too.

There was Dr. Yoo, who insisted on being called ‘Kihyun’, that they’d met before, and Minhyuk seemed to get along particularly well with him, but they sat a little too close to each other, and he laughed just a little too hard at his jokes. 

Jooheon’s mood turnt sour. _ Was he jealous? _

There was Dr. Lim, a bit of a prodigy amongst the immunologists. Fresh out of medical school, he was one of their youngest doctors, and quite honestly, the pride and joy of the immunology department. Minhyuk liked talking to him, too. He initiated a conversation by coming up behind Dr. Lim and swiping the glasses off his face with a laugh, then bonding with him because he realised they had almost the same prescription.

Again, Jooheon’s mood took a turn for the worst. Seeing how Minhyuk could just talk and laugh so easily with people made him irrationally jealous — something he was able to conceal well for the time being — and he wondered why he couldn’t do the same. Was it just because Minhyuk was pretty? Surely if he came up behind someone and stole the glasses right off their nose, they would not react the way Dr. Lim did to Minhyuk doing that. No, it had to have been deeper than that; there was no way people would just keep indulging Minhyuk _ just _because he was pretty.

The last doctor Minhyuk seemed to take a liking to was Dr. Son, the chief neurologist. Dr. Son was a tall man with broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a bit of a baby face. The difference between his large, intimidating physique and cute, round face was jarring. To talk to Dr. Son, well, Minhyuk just went for it. He wrapped a hand around Dr. Son’s bicep and gasped, squeezing the muscles as tightly as he could as Dr. Son laughed, stating that ‘it tickled.’

Well, that set Jooheon off. He glared at Minhyuk until it was time to go home.

✧

“I invited them to our wedding!” Minhyuk chirped, walking straight to the kitchen to pull out a large wok from the bottom cabinet, “Also, do you like bulgogi?” 

That threw Jooheon’s mind for a spin. He wasn’t exactly pleased that his work colleagues were about to come to their fake wedding, but he was happy that he’d be getting some kick-ass bulgogi out of this.

“I love bulgogi.” He decided to ignore the other part of Minhyuk’s comment.

☼

“We’d love to have you start next week, Dr. Lee,”

Minhyuk beamed and grabbed the lady’s tiny hand a little too enthusiastically. He apologised, but assured her that he was just really excited. She seemed to understand by chuckling softly and returning Minhyuk’s smile. 

After pushing past the office door, Minhyuk grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialled Jooheon’s number immediately. He _ had _to share the good news.

The line rang twice before Jooheon picked up.

Walking mindlessly through the hallways, Minhyuk whisper-yelled, “I start next week!” into his phone as he stepped into a small lobby, “I will be working underneath you! The floor underneath you, I mean,” he laughed, “That’s funny since I’m a bottom and you’re a top! Get it?”

The lobby went silent and everyone froze in their seats, staring at Minhyuk. Of _ course _ he chose this time to speak in English. He face-palmed himself mentally and glued his gaze to the floor, walking quickly to the nearest flight of stairs.

Jooheon spluttered on the other end and Minhyuk could have sworn he heard him blush through the phone. Why did Jooheon always get so _ weird _when he brought up sex? Surely he’d gotten laid before — he’s twenty-four years old.

“Anyways, I just wanted to call and tell you that. Think Ki would mind if I stopped by for a visit right now?” asked Minhyuk, switching to Korean to prevent further embarrassment.

Jooheon furrowed his eyebrows, “Who?”

“Kihyun.” Minhyuk answered, “Dr. Yoo,”

Great. Not only were they on a first-name basis, they were on a _ nickname _basis. However, he tried to remain unbothered and professional, “I’m sure he’d love to see you,” Jooheon said through gritted teeth.

“Great!” squealed Minhyuk, “and don’t worry! I’ll come see you, too,” he giggled, “I’m making my way up to the second floor, see you soon!” Minhyuk made a kissing sound and then ended the call, leaving a very confused Jooheon on the other line.

“Okay?” Jooheon said into nothingness. 

✧

“Dr. Yoo-o,” Minhyuk singsonged, knocking softly at Kihyun’s door.

“Minhyuk!” Kihyun happily opened the door and pulled Minhyuk into a friendly hug, “Come in! What brings you here today?” he asked, offering Minhyuk a seat.

Minhyuk was so thankful that Kihyun spoke Korean. He shrugged, “Nothing, really. I was just around! Decided to visit you and Jooheon.”

“How sweet,” Kihyun gushed, “I’m so happy you think of me as a friend,” he smiled.

“Of course! You, Dr. Son, and Dr. Lim are the only people I’ve met here who speak Korean! Aside from Jooheon, of course,” Minhyuk explained, “and the immigration officer! He’s Korean, too.”

Kihyun raised his eyebrows, “Immigration officer?”

“Yeah! Since I’m from Korea and all, I have to go through a huge process to get citizenship so I can work here,” Minhyuk said, “Jooheon has been helping me through the process,” he was smiling so much, his jaw felt tired, “he’s very sweet.” He gushed.

“Ah, that makes sense,” Kihyun agreed with a nod.

✧

“I was wondering when it was going to be my turn,” Jooheon joked, smiling as Minhyuk finally walked into his office.

“Best for last, right?” Minhyuk winked and took a seat on the chair in front of Jooheon’s desk, “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing, really. I’ve been in and out of the lab while you were visiting Kihyun.” Jooheon shrugged and relaxed in his chair. “Had fun with him?”

Minhyuk nodded enthusiastically, “I did! He asked about our married life, and I may or may not have made up a few things,” he wiggled his eyebrows and laughed, “he thinks he’s going to get proposed to.”

Jooheon choked. “He’s dating?”

“Mhm, he’s dating that huge neurologist, Dr. Son. Apparently they’ve been high-school sweethearts!" Minhyuk clutched at his chest dramatically and sighed dreamily. “Doesn’t that just warm your heart?”

“Wow, yeah, I guess.” A huge weight was lifted off Jooheon’s shoulders after hearing that bit of information. Kihyun was in a serious relationship, so that meant he had no reason to be jealous of how Minhyuk interacted with him… not that he should have been feeling jealous in the first place.

“Anyways, I’ll leave you for now! I want to make jajangmyeon for you tonight and I _ always _ruin the paste, so I need to get started early,” Minhyuk stood up and smiled at Jooheon, offering him a wave before turning around and leaving.

Jooheon couldn’t help but let his eyes wander down Minhyuk’s body as he left.

_ What the hell was getting into him? _Minhyuk was nothing but a green card husband, and he needed to get that fact through his head. Quickly.

✧

Much to Jooheon’s surprise, the jajangmyeon didn’t taste ruined at all, in fact, it tasted _ so _good, he wondered why it wasn’t being served at a restaurant. Typically, he wouldn’t leave his house to get food — that’s what delivery was for — but he decided, in his mind, that he’d definitely go out to get a taste of Minhyuk’s jajangmyeon. 

“You’re really good at cooking.” Jooheon said with his mouth full of noodles.

Minhyuk giggled at the compliment. Sometimes, the way Jooheon said things just made him feel so warm inside. He couldn’t really put a finger on _ why _ that was, exactly. “Aw, thank you! It’ll only get better, so you should look forward to it!” It wasn’t a lie. Minhyuk was absolutely sure his cooking would only get better with time, as most things typically do.

Nodding, Jooheon busied himself with clearing the plate of food, slurping messily at the noodles and sticking his tongue out at Minhyuk when he laughed at the black sauce around his lips.

Sharing a meal and laughing with someone was something a lot of people considered to be fairly domestic, and Jooheon was no exception. The whole thing felt so real, so natural, and that scared the hell out of him. 

Minhyuk, for the first time since Jooheon had seen him, looked like a normal person, and not some glowing, flawless being. Instead of his hair being perfectly styled like usual, it sat in a messy, blond pile behind a thick bandana, and his face was free of cosmetics, save for some cherry chapstick. It was refreshing, almost intimate, to see Minhyuk like that, and in the back of his mind, Jooheon decided that he wanted to see more. It was nice for him to finally enjoy someone’s company without subconsciously comparing himself to them.

Suddenly, married life didn’t sound too bad. Usually, it was said that no one knows what they want until after it’s gone, but in Jooheon’s case, he didn’t know what he wanted _ until _he had it-

-he just wished it wasn’t one-sided _ and _under false pretenses.

Jealousy, confusion, even anger flooded through his mind and it was overwhelming. _ Did Minhyuk know he was having this effect on him? _

Jooheon seriously contemplated telling Minhyuk. Would it ruin everything? Maybe, if there was a speck of good in the world, he’d tell him and Minhyuk would end up admitting that he’s been feeling the same way.

It was a ridiculous thought, and Jooheon knew there was no way someone like Minhyuk would want to be with him. 

“You’re really quiet tonight,” Minhyuk broke the silence carefully, like a single toe being dipped into a pool to gauge the temperature before jumping in completely, “something happen at work?” he asked, putting his chopsticks down on his empty plate.

“Um, no, just tired, I guess.” Jooheon gave the crappiest and most overused, disingenuous excuse he could think of because it was all his mind could put together.

Minhyuk rolled his eyes at that response and set his plate on the table beside the couch, “I’m not a psychologist, but people usually say that when something’s gone wrong.” He said, almost knowingly, as he wiggled on the couch and brought his knees up to his chest. He looked at Jooheon with giant puppy-dog eyes and Jooheon felt nervous; it was like Minhyuk was staring into his soul.

Jooheon gulped as Minhyuk shifted on the couch because he swore they ended up sitting a little closer together and that just added to his overall panic. “Nah,” Jooheon tried to play it off coolly, “my mind just… I just have a lot of things on my mind.” He shrugged and hoped Minhyuk would just drop it.

In typical Minhyuk fashion, he didn’t.

“Like what kinds of things?” Minhyuk urged, batting his eyelashes, “Maybe I can help you out.” He offered.

“Don’t really want to talk about it.” Jooheon repeated, more firmly this time around.

Minhyuk hummed. “Then, can _ I _ talk to you about something?” he asked.

The intonation in his voice seemed to trigger something in Jooheon because his forehead went hot and he started to feel a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face almost immediately.

“I guess?” Jooheon had no idea what was coming, but once he saw a familiar glint in Minhyuk’s eyes, he knew what it was going to be about. _ Oh, god. That night. _ Minhyuk was going to bring it up, and honestly, that was the _ last _thing Jooheon wanted to talk about. Call him a hypocrite, but he really liked thinking about it and imagining what could have happened if things went even further. In his mind, he’d already conjured up a dozen alternative endings, but no one needed to know about those.

However, talking about it with Minhyuk made him feel like he was about to choke. 

“I think you know what I’m going to say.” Minhyuk drawled the words out with a whisper. 

Slightly lilting and almost sensual, Minhyuk’s words hung in the air for several seconds before Jooheon could fully process them. The more he listened to Minhyuk talk, the more that accent got stuck in his head, and the more irresistible Minhyuk as a whole became. At this point, he could honestly listen to Minhyuk talk for hours about anything that popped into his mind and not get bored. Something that Jooheon had come to learn about Minhyuk was that he had the amazing ability to make the most boring, mundane things sound like the most interesting in the world. He briefly thought about what happened earlier at the hospital, about how he thought everyone was tolerating Minhyuk’s antics because of his pretty face, and then he realised that by thinking everything sounded better when Minhyuk said it, he was doing the same. 

“I thought you said you were going to forget about it,” Jooheon’s voice was small, “or something.”

“And I was more than happy to,” Minhyuk said softly, “but then you made me want more.”

Jooheon choked. _ What? What kind of sick joke was this? _ “C-come again?” His answer came out shakily because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Do you want me to spell it out for you or something?” Minhyuk sassed. “Or do you want me to show you?” He lowered his voice and hoped to entice Jooheon with a seductive look, but all that seemed to accomplish was exactly the opposite of what he wanted. Instead of turning Jooheon on, he looked scared, and Minhyuk tried not to let his face fall. This happened more often than he’d care to admit, and he hated himself for coming on too strong, but he just had a difficult time accepting ‘no’ for an answer sometimes. 

“I-I think I want to go to bed.” Jooheon said quickly. He leapt off the couch, quite literally, and tried to make an escape to the kitchen, but before he could take another step, skinny fingers wrapped around his wrist and anchored him to the spot.

As depraved as it sounds, Jooheon almost moaned. It was so delicate — intimate, even — and he swore there was something Minhyuk was trying to say through it because the way his thumb brushed over his skin was nothing short of genuine affection.

“What are y-you doing?” Jooheon squeaked, stopping dead in his tracks to look down at Minhyuk’s hand. _ Was it weird that he found it pretty? _

While Jooheon remained frozen in place, Minhyuk smiled and felt a weird sense of accomplishment that he was able to render him speechless with a single touch. Since the reaction he’d gotten from Jooheon was more than he expected, he wondered what he’d do if he stood right in front of him, so that’s exactly what he did. Making sure his fingers were still fixed around Jooheon’s wrist, he shifted his weight to one foot and waited. See, he already found Jooheon attractive, but after seeing those cute, round cheeks and single-lidded eyes up close, he concluded that Jooheon was even more attractive than he initially thought. 

Since when did he find monolids sexy? 

Since Lee Jooheon, that’s when. 

Jooheon pressed his lips together as he noticed Minhyuk’s eyes glide over his face multiple times. He smiled uncomfortably and hoped it was some sort of joke that Minhyuk would just laugh off, but of course, the universe was never so kind, especially to him, so he did the only thing he really could — reciprocate Minhyuk’s gaze. He observed the blond’s sharp cheekbones and sexy features, and suddenly, he was hyper-aware of how _ tall _Minhyuk was. As his eyes moved upwards, it became more apparent, especially since Minhyuk was so thin. 

“I think you like me,” Minhyuk stated simply, fighting the smile that threatened to tug at the corners of his lips.

“Of c-course I do. I consider you my friend.” Jooheon said, mentally debating on whether or not he should just yank his arm away from Minhyuk and sprint to his room.

“I think,” Minhyuk clicked his tongue and inched himself closer to Jooheon, “you like me more than that,” he smirked and raised an eyebrow at how flustered Jooheon was getting, “because friends don’t check out their friend’s asses.” 

Jooheon’s entire body went stiff. _ Caught. _ He’d been _ caught. _ In hindsight, yes, maybe it was a bad idea to check out Minhyuk’s ass as he walked away, but he couldn’t help it. Everyone did it, and Jooheon, being the man he is, was no exception. _ How the fuck did Minhyuk even see that? Did he have eyes in the back of his head? _

Minhyuk seemed way too relaxed while Jooheon was anything but. His stomach did flips as he stood there in front of Minhyuk and he swore that the space between them got less and less as the seconds flew by. After what seemed like forever, Jooheon opened his mouth to speak, only nothing came out.

“That’s okay,” Minhyuk spoke up for him, “you don’t have to say anything right now. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been noticing some things about you, and you don’t look at me the same way like you used to.” He said, finally dropping Jooheon’s wrist.

Well, Minhyuk was right. Jooheon didn’t know what to say, and he didn’t even know if he _ had _anything to say in the first place. This just kept getting weirder and weirder. He acknowledged Minhyuk’s statement with a hum and went to put his empty plate in the sink before making his way to his room in complete silence.

✧

Jooheon’s behaviour boggled Minhyuk. _ Jooheon _boggled Minhyuk. Why would he just brush it off like it was nothing?

Unless, maybe, it really was nothing.

Needless to say, Minhyuk went to sleep feeling slightly dissatisfied. He could have anyone he wanted; why was he so stuck on the one person who didn’t want him back? 

✧

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

✧

Jooheon had to rub his eyes and do a double take as he saw someone tall and blond wearing a white lab coat walk past his office.

_ Was that Minhyuk? _

✧

"You never told me you'd started working." Jooheon mumbled through a mouthful of kimchi. He looked at Minhyuk sheepishly and only for a split second because, strangely, he was embarrassed that he noticed, and embarrassed that he was the first one to bring it up. At least it broke the awkward dinner silence.

Minhyuk gasped. "Oh, no! You saw me! I wanted to surprise you, but I got a lot of work dumped on me on my first day." He pouted and looked at Jooheon with sad eyes.

"Oh," Jooheon bit at his lip to suppress a smile. Minhyuk wanted to surprise him, and if that wasn't the cutest thing, he didn't know what was, "If you want to do it tomorrow, I'll pretend I didn't see you today." He offered with a slight blush on his face.

"Sounds good." Minhyuk said, scooping some food into his mouth. "So, I think we should get married soon. I don't like hearing people in the other departments talk about being bummed that you're not single anymore." He laughed and smacked Jooheon's thigh playfully.

Surprisingly, Jooheon didn't flinch at Minhyuk’s touch this time. In fact, it seemed like he did the opposite; something about his body language screamed '_more, please _'.

Of course, Minhyuk noticed, and he took it upon himself to let his hand linger for just a few moments more, just to make sure his observation wasn’t something he imagined.

Jooheon's face flushed at the lengthened duration of the touch and Minhyuk decided that was proof enough for him. Plus, he didn't feel like torturing Jooheon tonight. He was hoping he'd be able to convince Jooheon to watch a scary movie together and then end up in his lap somehow.

_ Never know until you try, right? _

"T-They talk about me?" Jooheon asked shakily. There was no way people at work would talk about _ him _. Who was he? He was a nobody.

Minhyuk was slightly disappointed that that was what Jooheon took away from his sentence, but he nodded nonetheless.

"That's a shocker. Never thought people even knew my name," Jooheon chuckled and scooped some more kimchi into his mouth, "and I guess it's all thanks to you for finally getting me out there." He admitted.

Smiling, Minhyuk threw a wink at Jooheon before burying himself in his own food.

It wasn't long before their dishes sat empty in the sink and Minhyuk sat waiting on the couch for Jooheon.

"You said you liked horror movies, but you didn't like to watch them alone," Minhyuk started, a smile lighting up his face as he thought about his next sentence, "so, I got a couple from that red box by the vending machines at Wal-Mart. I think we should check them out tonight." He said, patting the empty space next to him on the couch enthusiastically.

Jooheon didn't really know if this was a good idea, but Minhyuk seemed really excited, and he didn't want to wipe that beautiful smile off his face.

Jooheon made a mental note to indulge him _ just this once. _

✧

Half an hour into the movie, Minhyuk’s plan was in effect. Their thighs were less than five inches apart and he took it upon himself to scoot over closer to Jooheon whenever something scary happened.

Jooheon noticed. His head was spinning and his heart was pounding… and his palms were sweating. He tried to wipe the sweat off his hands as discreetly as he could before Minhyuk came any closer, but Minhyuk grabbed his hand suddenly and squeezed it as he screeched at the bloodied humanoid figure that popped out of nowhere on the screen.

“How did you not flinch at that?!” Minhyuk screamed, still gripping Jooheon’s sweaty hand, not caring that it was drenched in moisture.

Jooheon shrugged and tried to ignore the fact that Minhyuk was even _ closer _to him now. He cleared his throat and tried to shift away from Minhyuk, but Minhyuk just copied what he did. He wondered if Minhyuk actually wanted to watch the movie or not, and judging by his behaviour, it didn’t seem like he was very interested in the film.

Minhyuk groaned and wrapped his arms around Jooheon’s bicep as a splash of red decorated the screen, and when body parts started flying all over the place, he shut his eyes and buried his face in the crook of Jooheon’s neck.

“H-Hey.” Jooheon said shakily, reaching a hand up to card his fingers through Minhyuk’s blond strands. Why he'd done that was beyond him. “We can stop the film if you want.” He offered.

Minhyuk peeked at the screen for a second, deemed it was acceptable to continue watching, then shook his head while looking up at Jooheon, “I think it’s over, right?”

“Um, I’m not sure,” Jooheon stared at the screen and raised an eyebrow, “but we can stop it.” He offered again.

“No, I can power through it,” Minhyuk giggled and rubbed his nose against Jooheon’s neck, “especially if you’re here.” He drawled, leaning in closer.

Jooheon gulped and managed to nod despite the fact that Minhyuk’s leg was draped over his now.

Minutes seemed like hours, and while Jooheon kind of wanted Minhyuk to move, he also wanted to stay in this position. Minhyuk was clutching onto him like his life depended on it, and Jooheon would be lying if he said he didn’t find that endearing.

Soon enough, the screen turned black and the credits started rolling.

“See? Told you I’d power through it.” Minhyuk smirked and patted Jooheon’s thigh.

“Uh-huh,” Jooheon laughed dumbly, “you squeezed the shit out of my arm.” He said, rubbing at his bicep dramatically.

“Sorry,” Minhyuk mumbled, “I don’t like jumpscares.”

“That’s okay, I don’t really like them either, but I’ll tolerate them.” Jooheon replied with a shrug.

Minhyuk perked up. “You know what I like to do after scary movies?”

“What?” Jooheon raised an eyebrow.

Instead of answering with words, Minhyuk responded by swinging his leg fully over Jooheon’s thighs to straddle him, all with a bright smile on his face. “I like to cuddle and hug so I can forget about the scary things I just saw.” Minhyuk said innocently, wrapping his arms around Jooheon’s neck to pull him closer.

_ Oh God. _

Jooheon shut his eyes as his face was buried against Minhyuk’s chest. It’s not like he didn’t welcome Minhyuk’s contact, because he definitely did, he just didn’t know if Minhyuk would be as welcoming of his_ own _ contact, which was far lower and involuntary. 

Minhyuk giggled as he placed a playful kiss to the top of Jooheon’s head. “See how nice this is?” he asked, taking Jooheon’s cheeks in his hands to pinch them gently, beaming as he saw those familiar, soft dimples beginning to form. “It works wonders,”

“S-Sure.” Jooheon choked out, trying to push himself deeper into the couch cushions so that Minhyuk’s crotch wasn’t directly on his. If Minhyuk didn't stop writhing all over the place, there was going to be a problem. “Min-Minhyuk, can you, um, stop?”

“Why?” Minhyuk pouted, “I thought you liked me.” He toyed with Jooheon's hair, wrapping black strands around his finger and tugging at them gently.

Jooheon’s mind went blank. “I-I do, I just-”

“Then let me stay.” Minhyuk hummed, rolling his hips forward as he dragged his lips down the side of Jooheon’s neck.

Whining, Jooheon struggled under Minhyuk, trying to figure out which way he wanted this to go, and the more Minhyuk wiggled and laughed on top of him, the bigger Jooheon’s problem got. 

Literally.

“I think we should-”

“Oh! Jooheonie,” Minhyuk blushed and looked down, “you _ really _ like me, don’t you?” He asked cheekily, raising an eyebrow at Jooheon’s obvious erection.

This was really happening again. 

Jooheon shut his eyes so hard he saw stars. The pressure and friction felt _ so _good, but he refused to take the blame this time. His body went hot with rage and he scowled at the pretty blond on top of him, grabbing his lithe arms just a little bit too hard as his mind tried to sort out what the hell he wanted to do.

“No, I just,” Jooheon tried to argue, “it’s your fault!” he finally screamed, “you’re grinding on _ me _ like a slut and then you want to blame _ me _ for getting hard? Fuck off!” Jooheon’s tone quickly turned venomous and his grip on Minhyuk's arms reflected that, tightening after every syllable he uttered. He pushed Minhyuk off him and stared at him with fire in his eyes. “You’re such a hypocrite.” He spat, finally turning his back to Minhyuk and stomping off to his room.

Minhyuk remained frozen in his spot long after Jooheon left. That was… _ harsh. _ He sniffled as the words echoed through his head. _ Slut. Hypocrite. _Is that what Jooheon thought of him? He rubbed his sore arms and pulled his legs up to his chest to rest his forehead against his knees. With his eyes hidden from sight, he sobbed softly and silently wished he was back in Korea. 

_ This was such a huge mistake. _

✧

To say Jooheon felt bad was an understatement. He knew he shouldn’t have said those nasty things to Minhyuk, but he had a terrible tendency to get angry easily. It was a curse, really, and it didn’t help that the situation in question was extremely embarrassing for him. 

Why Minhyuk found it funny — or normal — to hop into someone’s lap and bounce around was beyond him.

Jooheon lay on his bed, trying to think of ways to ask for forgiveness, but he was ninety-nine percent sure Minhyuk wouldn’t accept any apology he had to offer now. Hell, Jooheon _ himself _ wouldn’t accept an apology, no matter how big or genuine, if someone called him _ that _. 

He waited to hear the sound of the door to Minhyuk’s room shutting, but after fifteen minutes, he’d heard nothing, and that meant Minhyuk was probably still in the living room. Jooheon left his room as silently as he could only to find Minhyuk curled up into a ball on the couch, weeping quietly.

“Minhyuk? I’m-I’m sorry,” Jooheon whispered as he moved closer, “I’m really sorry,” he apologised again, taking a seat next to a crying Minhyuk “I didn’t really mean what I said, er, what I called you.” He corrected himself. 

Feeling the couch dip under the newly-added weight, Minhyuk peeked his head up from his knees to see Jooheon sitting beside him, and he seemed… worried?

When Jooheon looked into Minhyuk’s puffy eyes, he’d never felt more guilty in his life. Minhyuk’s perfectly white skin was littered with red splotches, and it was all because of him.

Minhyuk’s bottom lip trembled as he locked eyes with Jooheon. He didn’t know whether he wanted to slap him or hug him, but when Jooheon outstretched his arms, Minhyuk didn’t waste a second crawling into them.

“I’m really sorry,” Jooheon repeated quietly, softly stroking Minhyuk’s hair, “I only said those things because… I think I’m jealous.” He admitted, holding Minhyuk close to him.

“Of me?” Minhyuk squeaked, picking his head up from Jooheon’s chest to look him in the eyes.

_ Seriously? _Jooheon scoffed. “Of course, who wouldn’t be jealous of you?”

“Why?” Minhyuk asked, slightly puzzled at the strange admission. He wiped at the tears pooling at the corner of his eye and waited for Jooheon to respond.

“I mean,” Jooheon sighed deeply, “look at you. You’re really good-looking, obviously super smart, social, everyone stares at you when we go out,” he explained, slightly rambly and out-of-breath, “and I wish I could have that, too. No one does a double-take when I walk past them, but with you, you make heads turn from _ miles _away.”

“Is that why you think I’m a slut?” Minhyuk asked meekly, not wanting to look Jooheon in the eyes this time. He pouted, dreading the answer. He never really thought of himself as a slut, so this was a huge surprise. His work back home in Korea always kept him busy, so he barely had time to go out clubbing or partying. Did Jooheon think he was a slut because he liked sitting on him? Minhyuk could admit now that, yes, maybe it was a bit too much, but he liked the contact and attention and Jooheon was just so _ gentle _with him — well, up until now. His arms still stung from Jooheon’s rough grip and he really hoped he wouldn’t wake up with bruises on them tomorrow.

Jooheon bit his lip at Minhyuk’s question.

“No, I don’t think that,” he said firmly, “I guess I just wish I could sit in other guys’ laps like it’s no big deal, too.” Jooheon laughed dryly. “You’re just so comfortable with yourself, and it's... I find it scary. You’re really... sexually-forward, and your confidence, I just,” he exhaled sharply and looked down at Minhyuk, “I’m intimidated.” He finished quietly.

“Oh,” Minhyuk didn’t know how to respond. He’d never been told that he’d _ intimidated _someone before and it felt… weird. That was definitely not his intention.

Jooheon panicked when he noticed Minhyuk struggling to answer him. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have just dropped all that on you, and it’s not specific to you, I guess, just anyone who’s like you, and-”

“It’s okay.” Minhyuk's calm voice interrupted Jooheon’s frenzied rambling. “I also want to apologise, though. I shouldn’t climb on your lap whenever I want to and just start touching you,” he sighed and took his bottom lip between his teeth for a few seconds, “because I can see how you could have come to that conclusion about me being, um, a slut.” The word was difficult to say. “You can think of me however you want to, I can’t change that, but I want you to know that that kind of stuff is normal for me,” he explained quietly, “I enjoy being close to people, and I enjoy being touched and held,” Minhyuk coughed out a laugh and pointed to Jooheon’s arms around him, “like this, and not necessarily in a sexual way. It just comforts me.” He shrugged.

Minhyuk waited for Jooheon to process everything before speaking again. “That being said, I won’t touch you or come close to you anymore unless you ask for it or initiate it, okay? I feel like that’s a fair deal for both of us. I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable by touching you and sitting on your lap without asking,” he held up his hand and looked at Jooheon, “friends?”

Jooheon touched his hand against Minhyuk’s and nodded, “Friends.” He agreed.

“Thank you for forgiving me,” Minhyuk whispered, “and I’m sorry for giving you a boner-”

Jooheon choked.

“-but if it makes you feel any better, you gave me one, too.”

With that, Minhyuk hopped out of Jooheon’s arms and disappeared out of sight.

Now, Jooheon sat alone on the couch blushing furiously at Minhyuk’s last sentence, unable to get the words out of his head.

✧

* * *


End file.
